Kochi: In a medical achievement, Kochi doctors conducted the first successful combined pancreas and kidney transplant in the state and the third in India.

Syed Younis Sahir, a 38-year-old brain dead patient who was suffering from diabetes and kidney failure got a new lease of life after the twelve hour long gruelling operation.

Since Syed was 19, he had been suffering from diabetes and later developed kidney problems. The doctors at his native in Palakkad referred him to Amrita Institute of Medical Sciences where he was recommended a kidney and pancreas transplant.

Dr Ramachandran Narayana Menon, surgical gastroenterologist and transplant surgeon said that "If we do a kidney transplant, that kidney is again going to suffer the same. In this condition, if we transplant pancreas also along with kidney, the problem of Type I diabetes and high blood sugar will also get controlled."

This success will most certainly pave the path ahead for such transplants in future and will also remove the stigma attached with organ donation.